"I saw the disappointment of Evenepoel. That was really cool" - Wout Poels looks back on Vuelta a Espana stage win

For the second time this year, Wout Poels took a Grand Tour stage win on the penultimate day of the Vuelta a Espana. In a tight finale, Poels held off a charge from Remco Evenepoel to emerge victorious.

"When you see Remco in the leading group of thirty men, you think: pfff, he's on his way again," Poels laughs when recalling the stage on the podcast In Koers. "On the other hand, he can continue driving and that is useful to get some head start. You could see what time it was and where the attack should actually come. There was still a super steep climb with some cobblestones. We were all waiting for him to go and he didn't go. Then I thought: I better go all out myself."

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"On the descent, he joined us and we were gone with four or five men. After the descent, he had a twenty-meter lead over the rest and I was riding full speed to close that gap," Poels continues before echoing the comments of Damiano Caruso who said riding behind Evenepoel was like riding behind a scooter. "He's just a motorcycle when he rides away, dude!"

Despite this though, Poels did regain contact and then emerged to victory. "I had lactic acid everywhere," the Bahrain - Victorious rider laments. "I wasn't sure at the finish that I had won the stage, but then I saw the disappointment of Evenepoel. That was really cool."

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